10 civilians, 11 troops die in Syria violence: activists

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Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani and Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi at the meeting of the Arab ministerial committee on Syria in Cairo yesterday

FP/DamascusSyrian security forces and pro-regime militias yesterday shot and killed at least 10 civilians as troops and deserters engaged in deadly battles, a human rights group said. The latest violence came as the Arab League said its controversial mission in Syria would continue despite “harassment” by both the government and the opposition. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said heavy clashes broke out before dawn between the Syrian army and deserters in the southern Daraa province, leaving 11 soldiers dead. Another 20 soldiers were wounded in the fighting while nine soldiers defected to join the rebel troops, the Britain-based Observatory said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia. It also reported deadly clashes in the village of Basr al-Harir and heavy machinegun exchanges between the army and deserters in the Daraa town of Dael. There was no immediate word on any casualties there. Cradle of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad that erupted in March, Daraa has been one of the provinces hardest hit by the deadly crackdown unleashed by his regime. Mutinous soldiers and troops also clashed in the town of Zabadani, northwest of Damascus, the Observatory said, adding that the loyalists “suffered material and human losses” although no details were given. Two civilians were also reportedly killed by gunfire in Zabadani yesterday, as security forces raided the town, the watchdog said. A 15-year-old boy was among seven other civilians killed by gunfire from security forces and pro-regime “shabiha” militiamen in the central flashpoint province of Homs, the group said. And a 19-year-old man was killed in the eastern province of Deir Al Zor, Syria’s oil hub, where 30 civilians were also arrested during search operations by regime forces, it added. l A large Russian naval flotilla led by an aircraft carrier has docked in the Syrian port of Tartus in what Damascus state media hailed yesterday as a show of solidarity by close ally Moscow. The six-day call to the Mediterranean port, where Russia has a recently expanded naval base, is intended to boost ties at a time when Assad’s government is under mounting Western and Arab pressure over its bloody crackdown on dissent, the Syrian press said. But Russia defence officials said the stop was simply to replenish supplies. “The port call is aimed at bringing the two countries closer together and strengthening their ties of friendship,” Syria’s official Sana news agency quoted a Russian naval officer it identified as Vladimir Yakushin as saying. “The commanders of the Russian naval vessels docked in Tartus took turns to express their solidarity with the Syrian people,” the news agency added. The governor of Tartus province, Atef al-Nadaf, paid tribute to the “honourable position adopted by Russia which has stood by the Syrian people.” But Russian defence officials stressed the ships were conducting regular Mediterranean Sea exercises unrelated to the Syrian crisis and had only entered port to replenish supplies. “After replenishing their supplies, the ships will leave Syrian waters on January 9 and continue on their long-distance mission,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. Despite strong Western criticism, Russia has stood by its Cold War ally in the face of a mounting international outcry over the death toll from security force efforts to crush nearly 10 months of anti-government protests. In October, Moscow joined Beijing in vetoing a Western-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have threatened Damascus with “targeted measures” if it failed to rein in its security forces.